Drawing Inspiration

1996 Contemplate and Cure, Taitemia Gallery, Kuopio, Finland

One of the requirements of the City and Guilds Basketry Certificate, that I did at the London College of Furniture in 1982, was to produce a body of work using all the techniques and materials we had studied based on a theme. Mine was Baskets in Paintings as there were plenty of them and  I enjoyed looking for them. Subsequently, paintings and drawings, without baskets in them, have often provided me with inspiration and in each case helped me to develop new techniques and forms,(the Heironymous Bosch painting Christ Crowned with Thorns  and Picasso's The Pan Pipes, among others)  but I haven't done any for a while.

1998 Basket inspired by Heironymous Bosch, Cardboard, willow and plastic bottles

During a recent search for some slides of old work I came across some  images which reminded me just how good it can be to work off someone else's creativity, without actually working collaboratively.

In 1996 JJ Ignatius Brennan (my husband) and I had a joint exhibition in Finland, at the Taitemia Gallery in Kuopio. The title of the Exhibition was 'Contemplate and Cure' which was also the title of a series of drawings he had done in response to my having a cancer scare. In turn I then used his drawings as the inspiration for my baskets. For me it was a great way to get ideas without having to search for them, they just leapt off the drawings at me, but they also presented me with  lots of challenges in terms of techniques, which I relished.

Whilst we were there we taught a joint workshop at Kuopio Academy of Crafts and Design where the students were asked to use their senses smelling, touching and hearing things to inspire marks on paper. These marks led to drawings which became baskets.

It was a long time ago, I cannot remember the names of all of the students and my photos of the workshop were not good. But I do remember it being a very creative few days, for all of us.